


the art of cramming

by madhoney



Series: university of whatever [5]
Category: NCT (Band), WAYV, 威神V
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Crack, Gen, Housemates, Humor, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Prologue, Recreational Drug Use, Roommates, mini-series, more to come - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-14
Updated: 2019-10-14
Packaged: 2020-12-14 22:14:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,561
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21023084
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/madhoney/pseuds/madhoney
Summary: Tensions were always a little higher in their house during finals. The four of them often found themselves making up for fucking around all semester. But they never learned so that’s how it goes.At least they had each other to suffer with.





	the art of cramming

**Author's Note:**

> sooo...this started out as a drabble just to get some thoughts flowing and to introduce the dynamics at johnny's house but the idea kind of snowballed - whoooops lmao. 
> 
> this is sort of a prologue in a mini-series in the collegeverse. it's pretty chaotic and super dialogue heavy but i enjoyed writing it so i hope y'all like it ksdhflkjhdflg
> 
> ENJOY <3

Ten swung the front door open with a whoosh.

“I need to eat immediately, or I will die.”

From the common area, Taeil glanced up from his notebook. He took the momentary distraction to stretch his legs out under the small dining table, one socked foot itching at the other.

“Then eat,” he said. Taeil was stressed enough over his jazz history final – he didn’t really feel like dealing with his roommate's whining.

The clock on the wall read 12:14am – which meant that it was actually 1:14am since no one ever pushed the clock forward for daylight savings time.

“No place is open.”

Johnny lit up from his spot on the couch, spitting out the highlighter pen he was chewing on and abandoning the review videos he was watching on his laptop.

“Midnight Donuts?” Johnny suggested, mouth-watering at the thought of big-ass, late-night delivery doughnuts – a staple of their college town.

“Oooh,” Taeil said, as if just remembering their existence. “Have to get Midnight Donuts during finals week.”

“Right?” Johnny was already pulling up the delivery service app on his phone.

Ten moaned and trudged into the kitchen, dropping his gym bag on the way. “No, I need like, _real_ food.”

Taeil suddenly slammed his notebook closed and rose from the table.

“That’s it. I’m smoking.”

He padded into his bedroom nearby.

The outburst must’ve stirred Lucas, who was taking a mental health break from studying by passing out on the other sofa. 

He lifted the small, soft-cover book he was using as an eye mask and sat forward, rubbing his eyes before reaching for the can of Monster energy drink on the coffee table.

Ten rifled through the pantry. “Johnny, I’m stealing a pack of ramen since you have enough to last the next three years.”

Johnny grunted, not really clocking his words while he was too engrossed in reading specialty doughnut descriptions.

He wouldn’t have been bothered anyway – they all borrowed each other’s shit. Taeil always wore Lucas’s hoodies since the student-athlete inexplicably never wore a shirt at all in the house. Lucas took full ownership of Johnny’s old hookah pipe these days. And Ten’s bluetooth speaker was virtually house property at this point.

“State-dependent memory,” Taeil stated, sauntering back in the room, flicking his lighter and holding it to the joint between his lips.

This pricked Lucas’s interest and he watched his older but smaller roommate do what he did best. He propped his chin up on his palm.

“Expand on that.”

“Well, I’m wondering why I barely remembered anything now that I’m studying sober, right?” Taeil started, words squeaking out while he tried to keep the smoke in his lungs for as long as he could. “I think it’s because I was...pretty high every time I went to that lecture.”

“Nothing to do with the decade-long habit of incinerating your brain cells,” Ten said from the kitchen, smirking while he filled a pot with water from the tap. “So, what, you’re just gonna go to your exam high too?”

Taeil shrugged. “It’s never been a problem for me before.”

“Fascinating,” Lucas marveled, without an ounce of irony. He made a mental note to try that theory someday. 

But not today. 

He blinked at the study guide for some compulsory humanities course in front of him. He was at least 75% sure he wouldn’t fail the class (again) but he couldn’t risk a penalization by his swim team coach if he didn’t do well.

He sighed, picking up the thick paper plate he had eaten his chicken nuggets off of earlier and stood. A few crumbs tumbled off his bare chest as he stretched upright. 

“Oh, fuck,” Johnny gasped. “There’s free delivery if you get four donuts or more. Taeil, you want doughnuts?”

The elder slid over the arm of the couch, body flopping down sideways onto the worn cushion. “Seriously?”

Lucas shuffled into the kitchen. “Did you finish your dance or whatever?”

Ten had left for the studio sometime in the early afternoon to polish off his performance final for an advanced ballet course that he had bitched about all semester.

“It’s as good as it’s going to get,” he exhaled, poking at the disk of dried ramen noodles in the pot with a spoon. “Are you...are you doing what I think you’re doing?”

Lucas looked up from washing his paper plate in the sink. He could definitely get another use out of it.

“What? I’m saving the environment, bro.” 

Ten blinked. “I have so many things to say, and yet I am speechless.”

His loss for words ended quickly and he turned to his other roommates.

“Guys, he’s _washing_ a paper plate.”

Johnny and Taeil stared into the kitchen.

“Damn, that’s what’s up,” Taeil admired lazily.

Johnny nodded. “Saving the environment.”

Ten watched, incredulous as Lucas carefully set the dampened cardboard in the drying rack.

“Man, that ramen smells tight as fuck,” Lucas sniffed. He had already moved on from the other’s attempt to shame him. Ten’s snarky personality never bothered him too much.

Ten shook his head to himself. “I really can’t live somewhere where _I_ am forced to be the voice of reason. I swear I’m moving out this summer for real…”

Everyone voiced their own apathetic groans and sighs. Ten threatened that at the end of almost every semester. But as a general rule, everyone took the performing arts student’s declarations with a grain of salt.

“Okay, in the meantime, do you want a doughnut or not?”

“Uh, wrong number,” Ten rolled his eyes. “As if I’m putting all that processed sugar into my finely-tuned dancer’s body.”

“Sorry, I forgot you only do clean-eating,” Johnny rolled his eyes, smirking. “How’s that super clean ramen taste?”

Ten stuck his tongue out and Taeil giggled at the exchange.

“Lucas? Two Cocoa Puffs doughnuts?” Johnny asked.

Lucas clutched his heart, his already massive eyes somehow growing bigger. “Bro, you remembered my order.”

“You get it like, once a week,” Taeil pointed out, coughing a little.

Johnny pouted and turned to the sloth-man at his side, obscured behind a puff of smoke. “Dude, I _wish_ I could get blazed right now but I can’t and you’re blowing right in my breathing space.”

Taeil mumbled a half-hearted apology before rolling off the couch and returning to his books at the table.

Johnny quickly finalized the order. “Alright. Twenty minutes.”

The center of the house fell back into silence while everyone attempted to return to studying, save for the rhythmic clicking and unclicking of Lucas’s pen until he earned three sets of glares. Even Ten had popped an airpod in and was reviewing his dance practice videos on his phone. 

Tensions were always a little higher in their house during finals. The four of them often found themselves making up for fucking around all semester. But they never learned so that’s how it goes. 

At least they had each other to suffer with. 

“I can’t wait for this week to be over,” Johnny muttered after a while, pulling his hair out of its messy bun only to start redoing it. “I’m about to go so hard when all these fucking exams are done…”

Ten hummed, slurping a heap of noodles directly from the pot in which they were cooked (because he was just as much of an animal as the rest of them). He understood the feeling, especially since he could rarely let loose due to the athletic nature of his courses and his body’s sensitivity.

It’s probably why he was such a bitch most of the time. 

Lucas suddenly perked up. “Hey, have you guys ever had a party here?”

Johnny paused halfway between bundling his hair up and Ten clipped off the strands of noodles he was sucking into his mouth.

“We should have a party.”

“How _haven’t_ we had a party?”

“Nooo, please, parties are awful,” Taeil whined. The eldest had some pretty real hate vibes towards such things. “There’s so many people, it’s too loud, everyone always touches your stuff even if you say not to, it’s just— No. No.”

But the seed was already planted.

Johnny and Ten were now communicating solely through expressive glances. Lucas watched their back and forth while he necked the rest of his energy drink and burped lowly.

“What about just like, a chill get-together type of thing,” Ten offered casually. 

“Yeah, not too many people. Just a lowkey thing,” Johnny continued. “It’d be cool to have _something_ to look forward to after this week, right?”

“Yeah just something small, you know?”

Lucas pouted. That was a less fun alternative, but he supposed it might be nice anyway. 

Regardless, Taeil was considering it.

“Eh… I guess that wouldn’t be too bad. We could probably do that,” he conceded before getting up from the table and heading towards his room. “I’ll think about it. First, I gotta pee.”

Ten’s eyes sparkled and Johnny carefully bit back a smile. Everyone paused, waiting to hear the door of his en-suite bathroom click closed.

“So we’re definitely having a _real_ party, right?” Ten beamed.

“Absolutely. 100%.”

“Seriously?” Lucas gasped. “For real? Fuck, I have so many people to invite...”

“Next Friday, after exams are officially finished, it’s on,” Johnny announced.

“Invite _everyone_,” Ten added, with that mischievous smile.

“Just don’t tell Taeil.”

Lucas nodded in understanding. “Don’t tell Taeil.”

~

**Author's Note:**

> THANK YOU FOR READING !
> 
> if you enjoyed it please leave me some kudos and comments - let me know your thoughts! <3
> 
> [twt!](https://twitter.com/mad__honey) [cc!](https://curiouscat.me/mad__honey)


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